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Facing another major government offensive in central and northern Syria, rebels have expanded their presence on the ground. The army's offensive against the rebels has been so ferocious that a U.N. monitoring mission was suspended due to the violence.

Transcript

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

And today's last word business is about a bank takeover that was more of a fake over. Businessman Li Chunping made headlines in China earlier this year. He spoke in the Chinese media of how he took over an American bank - the Atlantic Bank of Delaware, which he said went bankrupt in 2008.

LINDA WERTHEIMER, HOST:

The story got him plenty of public praise. The communist party touted him as a model citizen, rising from poverty to be a successful businessman in the rice trade. He even got a position as a government adviser.

Atlanta rapper Michael Santiago Render, known professionally as Killer Mike, released his sixth album this month. It's called R.A.P. Music. The album's title isn't about hip-hop, per se, but refers to an acronym tweeted by another Georgian, a critic named Maurice Garland, two years ago. "He just put it up randomly: 'Rap music is supposed to be Rebellious African People,' " Killer Mike told Morning Edition. "I said, 'Yo, i'm naming my next album that.' "

You can hear a portion of the show's interview with Killer Mike at the audio link, but keep reading for more.

Diplomats and activists from around the world are meeting in Rio de Janeiro this week to talk about how the planet's growing population can live better lives without damaging the environment. The Rio+20 meeting marks the 20th anniversary of the United Nations Earth Summit in Rio, a watershed meeting to address topics as diverse as climate change and biodiversity.

At this follow-up meeting, delegates hope to highlight an issue that was almost absent from the Earth Summit: making energy available to everyone in the world.

Jim Flechtner's satirical letter to The Courier (Findlay, Ohio), pointed out irreconcilable differences between the Holy Bible and the "bisexual" Buckeye and called for grassroots campaign to remove the "shameful" state mascot.

Without reading too much into the author's original intent, the letter does connote a bit of Jonathan Swift's Modest Proposal in 1729 and the rich history of subsequent modest proposals since.

The prosecution presented its last witness today in the trial against former Penn State assistant football coach Jerry Sandusky. The New York Times reports the witness was the mother of one of the eight boys who accused Sandusky of sexually abusing him.

Most researchers currently believe that United Nations peacekeeping soldiers introduced cholera to Haiti in October of 2010.

After all, Haiti hadn't recorded cholera for as long as a century, Nepal had experienced a cholera epidemic in the months preceding the soldiers' arrival, and the Haitian and Nepalese cholera strains were found to be nearly identical.

A federal jury acquitted pitching ace Roger Clemens of all charges on Monday. The jury found Clemens not guilty of lying to Congress and obstructing a congressional investigation into performance-enhancing drugs.

They're time-consuming, demanding and require birthday cards, but they may help keep you alive. Friends and family, that is.

A jury found baseball star Roger Clemens not guilty on six charges against. Clemens was accused of lying to Congress in 2008 about his use of performance enhancing drugs.

An interesting case of identity politics is playing out in New York's newly drawn 13th Congressional District, which includes Harlem and parts of the Bronx.

Rep. Charles Rangel, D-N.Y., faces four much younger competitors in next week's Democratic primary, in what could be the toughest re-election bid of his long political career.

NPR's Corey Dade explains:

Say the word Tijuana, and many people automatically think of a city riddled with drug violence. But native son Javier Plascencia is hoping to change all that by cooking up high-quality cuisine that focuses on the region's diverse ingredients.